German prof heads JNU’s Centre for Indian Languages

“The executive council took the decision to appoint Rekha V Rajan as acting chairperson of Centre of Indian Languages on temporary arrangement as there were some internal issues,” Sudhir Kumar Sopory, Vice Chancellor, JNU.

Ranjan is working on this post since July after Ram Bux Jat of Hindi department completed his two years’ term. It’s for the first time in the history of the institute that a foreign language professor is heading it. However, the professors of the department are tight-lipped on the ‘internal issue’ which has forced the Vice Chancellor to take this decision but according to sources it’s a classic case of infighting in JNU and the matter was even reported to the police in June.

According to sources, after Bux completed his term of two years in July this year, Mazhar Hussain of Urdu language department and Govind Prasad of Hindi department starting lobbying for the post.

As these two professors were considered “disputed” by the Registrar and V-C office, the next seniors in the respective departments — D K Choubey of Hindi and Khwaja Md Ekramuddin also joined the contest. These professors, reportedly used students of their departments to malign the image of one another by allegedly leaking the marks obtained by them in final exams with allegations that the concerned professors were biased.

The matter did not stop here and chits were also thrown in the offices of the V-C and Registrar against one another which led them to the police station. “It’s very sad that professors of this prestigious institute have gone at this level which had benefited none but earned disrepute to all,” said a senior faculty member of JNU. The V-C, however, said he would appoint a permanent head from Indian language department at the earliest.